First things first: The word "nonuple" means "units of nine". Single, double, triple, quadruple, quintuple etc. In 1979 the world was witness to one of the most mind blowing seasons ever put together. 40 year old knuckle baller Phil Niekro lead the NL in 9 categories. NINE. And while not all of these categories were ones you'd want to lead the league in, the mere fact that he did it is amazing. He managed to lead the league in 9 categories while playing on an absolutely awful Braves team that lost 94 games. So sit back and take this in, and then try to imagine it happening in modern baseball. No way in HELL the world will ever see another season like the one Phil had in '79.Phil lead the league in starts with 44. Now, even though at the time most teams only had a 4 man rotation with a 5th man being used as a spot starter/long reliever, this number is still pretty amazing when weighed in comparison to todays starting pitchers who usually make between 30-34 starts, barring injury. Even more amazing is the fact that the Eddie Solomon finished second on the Braves in starts with 30. Phil Niekro took the mound 14 times more than any other starter on his team. Again, that's something we'll never see again. Sure, a lot of that had to do with him being a knuckle baller and being able to start on 3 days rest, but it's still kinda mind boggling. A 40 year old starting nearly 1/3rd of his teams games is pretty amazing.
In those 44 starts Phil won a league leading 21 games. Of course, as we've learned over the years, there are numerous better ways to judge the value of a pitcher than by their amount of wins. In this case, Phil was the winning pitcher in 21 of the Braves 66 wins. Again, pretty amazing. Here's where it gets crazy: In his 44 starts he LOST 20 games, good enough to lead the NL. HE WON AND LOST 20 GAMES IN THE SAME SEASON. Again, something we'll never, ever see again. Sure, you don't really WANT to lose 20 games, but if you're going to do it what better time to do it than when you also win 20? Incredible. That also means that he only had 3 no-decisions in his 44 starts.
In those 44 starts Phil went the entire way in 23 of them. 23 complete games. 23 games where the bullpen had the night off. 23 games where his 40 year old ass threw every pitch for his team. Again, something we'll never see again. And if he lead the league in starts and complete games, it's pretty obvious he also lead the league in innings pitched. In fact, he threw a league leading 342 innings (or nearly double the innings Rich Harden threw in his "healthiest" season) marking the 3rd consecutive season he lead the league in innings pitched. Knuckle baller or not, that is an absolute butt load of innings to throw, and the fact that he did it at the age of 40 makes it that much more impressive.
So far we have games started, wins, losses, complete games, and innings pitched. 4 of those 5 are categories you'd be proud to lead the league in, and if you're Brian Kingman, losing 20 games is actually a badge of honor. The last 4 categories Phil lead the league in are a tad... dubious. It stands to reason that when you pitch a lot of innings that you'll face a lot of batters. When you face a lot of batters you're going to give up a lot of hits. In his 342 innings pitched, Phil Niekro gave up a mind blowing 311 hits, a number that you'll never see again. Of those 311 hits, 41 of them were homers, yet another league leading number. He also walked 113 batters and had 11 wild pitches to round out the 8th and 9th jewels in the Nonuple Crown. I guaran-damn-tee we will never see a player lead the league in 9 categories. For putting up one of the truly most unique seasons ever, Phil Niekro finished 6th in the '79 NL Cy Young voting, behind winner Bruce Sutter (weakest Hall of Fame pitcher, imo), his less talented brother Joe, a pre-heart attack JR Richard, Tom Seaver and the popsicle scarfing Pirates closer, Kent Tekulve. I'm not saying Phil should have won it that year, but shit, man, he should have won SOMETHING for that. Like, a medal or the keys to the city or something. Oh well. Ultimately things worked out for Phil, who continued to be a solid starter until age 47 and retired at age 48. In 1997 the BBWAA pulled their heads out of their collective asses and elected him to the Hall of Fame. A fitting end to the author of one of the most WTF? seasons ever.
I got my first set of baseball cards when I was 5. It was the '85 Topps set and my aunt bought it for me and one of the things I remember most is that Phil Niekro looked older than my grandpa in the action shot on his card and also, he was the only player in that whole damn set who was born in the '30s. So, Phil Niekro officialy holds the title of the oldest man who I can remember playing major league baseball.
ReplyDeletePhil Neikro is my go-to innings-eater in Baseball Mogul. And no, no I won't stop talking about Baseball Mogul, even though there is generally no less interesting thing to talk about than a video game that you are playing. Baseball simulators are different. THEY JUST ARE.
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